AgWeatherNet

{{Short description|Mesonet run by Washington State University}}

AgWeatherNet is an automated agricultural weather station network operated by Washington State University in the Pacific Northwest.{{cite book | last=Zhang | first=Q. | title=Automation in Tree Fruit Production: Principles and Practice | publisher=CABI | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-78064-850-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RY1FDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA115|page=115}} It is the first and the largest agricultural weather network in the United States.{{citation|author=Scott Yates|work=Wheat All About It! |title=Let's Talk About AgWeatherNet|id=episode 49|url=http://wagrains.org/podcast/episode-49-lets-talk-about-agweathernet/ |type=podcast|publisher=Washington Grain Commission|date=November 28, 2017}} Every 5 seconds, over 175 sensors (as of 2018) record air temperature, relative humidity and dew point, soil temperature at 8 inches, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, insolation and leaf wetness.[http://weather.wsu.edu AgWeatherNet user homepage], Washington State University, retrieved 2018-05-05 The data is reported back from each sensor to WSU's Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, Washington and made available to the public on the Internet. The network can be used to predict and warn of crop hazards such as freezes (especially damaging to Washington fall crops like apples) and hailstorms.{{citation|publisher=Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences|title=AgWeatherNet Tests State-of-the-Art Weather Prediction Model for Freeze Events|type=official website|date=August 23, 2012|author=Nella Letizia|url=http://stage.cahnrs.wsu.edu/news-release/2012/08/23/agweathernet-tests-state-of-the-art-weather-prediction-model-for-freeze-events/|access-date=March 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306082946/http://stage.cahnrs.wsu.edu/news-release/2012/08/23/agweathernet-tests-state-of-the-art-weather-prediction-model-for-freeze-events/|archive-date=March 6, 2018|url-status=dead}}

Sensors are located mostly in the irrigated regions of Eastern Washington like the Yakima Valley, but also cover some non-irrigated areas like the Palouse and areas of Western Washington such as the Chehalis River valley.{{citation | title=WSU AgWeatherNet: a tool to plan and manage farm operations | publisher=Lewis County, Washington | website=official website | url=http://lewiscountywa.gov/weedcontrol/wsu-agweathernet-a-tool-to-plan-and-manage-farm-operations-2 | access-date=2018-03-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306142332/http://lewiscountywa.gov/weedcontrol/wsu-agweathernet-a-tool-to-plan-and-manage-farm-operations-2 | archive-date=2018-03-06 | url-status=dead }} The Oregon Hop Commission funds three sensors in northwest Oregon.{{citation|title=Financial support|work=AgWeatherNet official website|publisher=Washington State University|url=http://weather.wsu.edu/?p=90350|accessdate=2018-03-05}} Several cranberry farming concerns fund a sensor at Grayland on the Pacific Coast.

The system began in 1988 with the name Public Agricultural Weather System (PAWS).{{citation|title=WSU has 135 weather stations in farming communities|date=April 1, 2011 |publisher=KNDO-TV|location=Tri Cities, Washington |url=http://www.nbcrightnow.com/story/14369507/wsu-has-135-weather-stations}}